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Abstract Bubonic plague has had a major impact on the history of the world. Caused by the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, and transmitted by fleas often found on rats, bubonic plague has killed over 50 million people over the centuries. Burrowing rodent populations across the world keep the disease present in the world today. Outbreaks, though often small, still occur in many places. The use of antibiotics and increased scientific knowledge first gained in the 1890s have reduced the destruction of plague outbreaks. In Medieval times, with the unknowing help of humans, bubonic plague exploded into a pandemic. Known as the ³Black Death², it decimated Europe in 1350, killing 1/3 of the population. It disrupted government, trade, and commerce. It reshaped people¹s perspectives on life and Christianity, and found expression in many works of art. Bubonic plague¹s influence and effects have shaped events of the past and part of our world today. What is the name of the disease?

Bubonic plague came by its name because of the symptoms of the disease. Bubonic plague causes very painful, swollen lymph nodes, called buboes. These swollen lymph nodes are often first found in the groin area, which is "boubon" in Latin. This disease became associated with the term "plague" because of its widespread fatality throughout history. Bubonic plague was also known as the "Black Death" in Medieval times. This is because the dried blood under the skin turns black. What is/are the causative agent(s)?

Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium, Yersinia pestis. It is also known as Pasteurella pestis. Other Pasteurella bacillus cause diseases such as tuberculosis. How is the disease transmitted?

Plague is caused by an infection with Yersian pestis, which is a bacterium carried by rodents and transmitted by fleas found in parts of Asia, Africa, and North and South America. The Oriental Rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis) is the most efficient carrier of plague, but other species of fleas (ex. Nosopsyllus fasciatus, Xenopsylla brasiliensis, Pulex irritaus) can also pass the disease on to humans. Overall, 100 species of fleas are known to be infected by the plague bacillus. Plague is transmitted to humans in two ways: -Mostly by being bitten by an infected flea

-Sometimes from exposure to plague infected tissuePlague is normally enzootic, (present in an animal community but occurring in only a small number of cases), among rodents. However, with certain environmental conditions plague reaches an epizootic scale (affecting many animals in any region at the same time). It is after a significant amount of the rodent (usually rats) population dies out, that hungry, infected fleas seek other sources of blood, increasing the risk to humans and other animals. the incubation period of bubonic plague is 2 to 6 days after exposure. Between disease outbreaks, the plague bacterium exists among certain burrowing rodent populations without causing much illness. These animals act as long-term reservoirs of infection. What happens (biologically) to people who get the disease and why? Once the bacterium, Yersinia pestis, enters the bloodstream, it travels to the liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs, and brain. The incubation period is commonly 2 to 6 days after exposure. Early symptoms include: -shivering

-vomiting
-headache
-giddiness
-intolerance to light
-pain in the back and limbs
-white coating on tongueEventually, pain occurs in the groin, armpit, and neck (all the areas that contain lymph nodes). Later, there is painful swelling of the lymph nodes called "boboes", hard lumps that begin to appear on the inner thigh, neck, and armpit. Blood vessels then break, causing internal bleeding. Soon, dried blood under the skin begins to turn black. Yersinia pestis, in autopsies, has been found in the periodical sac, spleen, liver, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. If untreated, plague mortality is very high (up to...

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As A.L. Rowse mentions, "many of the citizens possessed chamber pots, usually made of tin, or close stools." The close stools were put in the cockloft, the sleeping quarters of the Elizabethans. This would obviously reek of horrible odors and force the townsmen to dump them as soon as possible into the slimy cobblestone streets.
Many rats and rodents flocked to the littered streets, finding morsels of anything that would satisfy their hunger. This is where the transportation of the plague would come to play. As the rodents feasted on the waste, the plague-infested fleas would jump to the nearest passerby. "The most devastating to England was the bubonicplague. Also known as, ""The Black Death", because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and medieval medicine had nothing to combat it"(Rice). London was afflicted over a dozen times during the 1500's (Miller and Orr)". Winters were usually mild, allowing the rats and rodents, which carried fleas to stay active throughout the winter months.
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...unstoppable plague swept the continent taking as much as
eighty percent of the European population along with it
(Forsyth). However, Today the world is plagued with a
similar deadly disease. The AIDS epidemic continues to be
incurable. In an essay written by David Herlihy, entitled
"BubonicPlague: Historical Epidemiology and the Medical
Problems," the historic bubonicplague is compared with
the current AIDS epidemic of today. According to his
research, AIDS will probably prove to be the plague of the
millennium (Herlihy p. 18). If one compares the
epidemiology and social impact of these diseases they
prove to be quite similar. The current AIDS epidemic has
the potential to be the most dangerous and destructive
plague of the millennium. No one knows exactly how the
AIDS virus erupted. However, one presently dominant
theory states that AIDS originated from monkeys in Africa
that transmitted the HIV virus to humans through bites
(Forsyth). As people migrated it reached Haiti and then
spread to America (Clark p. 65). The bubonicplague, too,
was a spontaneous epidemic. The Black Death occurred
because a bacillus was carried by fleas that fed off the
blood of humans and transmitted the deadly bacillus in the
process (Packer). It began in China and spread by
migration throughout all of Europe and even America
(Forsyth). Efforts...

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The Black Plague spread very quickly from overseas with fleas on rats, to infecting people in the late 1300s. It spread so rapidly that it killed almost two-thirds of the population of Europe in five years ("Renaissance and Reformation." Teacher Notes ). Although there were many deaths, the influence on others came off in a twist. Maybe this triggered the start of something new. The joy and outlook of people suddenly changed and started focusing on art and music. What caused all of this? Death? Humanism? Individualism? The European world began to change, not in a negative way, but started focusing on the inner walls of people’s love and passion for art.
It all starts from something as minor as fleas on rats, which affected many countries’ entire population. The BubonicPlague was believed to have originated in the late 1340’s in Southeast Asia and was brought back to China and Russia when the Mongol tribes invaded Southeast Asia (“BubonicPlague, the Black Death”). Mongolian tribes would travel with their plague victims down the Silk Road which was a very vital trade route ("Renaissance and Reformation." Teacher Notes). The plague started to diffuse due to travel and this created a wide spread pandemic and affected countries all over the world. Soon enough, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, Northern Africa, Syria, Egypt and Palestine were infected by...

...Overview of: When Plague Strikes' by James Giblin
This book is separated into three main parts the Black Death, smallpox, and aids. This book gives facts of occurring diseases and the diseases from the past. This books content mainly took place in Europe and Asia when it gave facts dates and examples. It explains the nature and symptoms of diseases from long ago.
The bubonicPlague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly the disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. They called it "The Black Death" because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and medieval medicine had nothing to go against it. In five years twenty five million people were dead because of the Black Death. So many people had died that there were serious labor shortages all over Europe. The Black Death came in three forms, the bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemia. Each different form of plague killed people in a nasty way. All forms were caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. The symptoms were enlarged and inflamed lymph nodes (around arm pits, neck and groin). The term 'bubonic' refers to the characteristic bubo or enlarged lymphatic gland. "Victims were subject to headaches, nausea, aching joints, fever of 101-105 degrees, vomiting, and a general feeling of illness....

...horrific disease. Approximately one-third of the population of Europe died of a deadly disease known as the bubonicplague. Europe was not alone in this catastrophe; portions of Northern Africa and Asia were also affected. The extent of the devastation caused by the bubonicplague can be explained by examining the culture of the 1300s. The population was unaware of how the disease was spread and therefore no preventable measures were made. The plague affected social, political, religious, and economic life. The disease was able to spread from Asia into Europe and North Africa.
The bubonicplague was unstoppable for the time period. In the 1300s they didn’t know much about medicine. (Doc 5) They tried leeches on the people who were infected with the plague. Most people did not believe medicine was the cure of the plague, they thought it was God. A Major factor that led to the spread of the plague is how overcrowded the cities were.
The plague terrified people causing a dramatic change in social, political, religious, and economic life. (Doc 2) This scourge had implanted so great a terror in the hearts of men and women that brothers abandoned brothers, uncles their nephews, sisters their brothers, and in many cases wives deserted their husbands. But even worse… fathers and mothers refused to nurse and assist their own...

...“most devastating pandemics in human history.” This disease was brought into Europe by ships that carried rats that were bit by fleas who carried the disease. The Black Plague caused a tremendous population drop in England, which caused the peasants to revolt in 1381, due to the higher value that had been placed on labor. I chose this topic because I am very fascinated by the fact that a disease swept out about a third of a population. Since this was not something that people purposely gave each other, it is interesting to know that the people living during this time did not try to protect themselves from this disease. The Black Death proved to be revolutionary in the fact that it revived a whole nation, and changed the way Europeans worked due to the huge decrease of people.
As a primary source I used Giovanni Boccaccio’s excerpt The Plague Hits Florence. This is an excerpt from The Decameron, which is a series of stories talking about the disrupted city. Here, Boccaccio illustrates the scene of the plague in 1350 by describing the corpses laying around the town and the “sick folk” being carried out of the Church. This article gives us a good illustration of how the people living during the Plague felt, and their thoughts and emotions at the time. We learn how the people were actually affected by the plague and how difficult it was for them to see all of the people around them rapidly die....

...and greed overtook these European nations and various responses emerged from the outbreaks.
Once the plaque’s true deadliness was evident people reacted to the plague with mass fear. Due to the chaos, in most towns and village’s anarchy broke loose and leadership was spread thin. As French author Nicolas Versoris explains “the rich fled” (Doc 3) while those in poverty were left to die, a rift was created between the rich and poor creating fear within class divisions. Nicolas Versoris, being a respected author may have easily been on of the wealthy nobles, which fled from the early signs of the plague. Those who were poor and infected had no choice but to stay put and wait on their death, the option to escape this horrid disease was only given to those privileged and wealthy. “Whatever house the pestilence visited was immediately nailed up, and if a person died within, he had to be buried there. Many died of hunger in their own houses. Throughout the country, all the roads and highways were guarded so that a person could not pass from one place to another.” (Doc 5) This observation was made by Heinrich von Staden who was probably a wealthy traveler whom encountered several of these isolated homes in which the infected were quarantined. Not only did the plague effect those directly infected by the disease, the plague also halted trade for the United Kingdom as a whole. “The trading nations of Europe were all afraid of...

...Jordan Malone
Accelerated English II
3 May 2013
The Black Death
As a pandemic that was able to spread from country to country and kill millions in the process, the Black Death, also known as the BubonicPlague, was able to leave a mark on almost all of the Eastern hemisphere. Additionally and ironically, the impact the Black Death had on many countries was both negative and positive. While killing millions and destroying economies, theBubonicplague also helped improved health care and sanitation. By far, it is easy to see that the Black Death was no simple disease and its effects would carry on for some time.
“Black Death is a mistranslation of the Latin word “atra” meaning both terrible and black” (Beneditow 42). Its meaning is nothing short of the impact it had, especially in the eastern hemisphere. The BubonicPlague swept away 20-30 percent of Europe’s population (49). Sixty percent of Florence’s population died from the plague (42). In her book, Epidemics: Deadly Diseases throughout History: the Plague, Holly Cefrey gives an exact determination of the path that the Black Death took in sweeping across the eastern hemisphere. She states:
In 1334, the plague originated in Asia, and in 1345, was carried west along the Silk Road east. By 1347, the plague struck the Italian peninsula and in 1348, it spread to France,...